With the re-endorsement of the Australian Forest Certification Scheme (AFCS), nearly half of all national certification standards have successfully completed the revision of their criteria and continue to meet PEFC's strict International Sustainability Benchmark requirements.

PEFC International requires all national schemes to revise their standard every five years to allow for the adaption of the most recent scientific information and to encourage continuous dialogue with national and regional stakeholders.

"We congratulate AFCS for successfully completing the rigours third-party assessment by FORM International and for achieving re-endorsement by PEFC," said Ben Gunneberg, PEFC Secretary General. "With almost 9 million hectares of forest certified to AFCS, we are glad to see that the scheme continues to be aligned with the world's largest best practice standard for forest certification."

"Compliance with PEFC is of utmost importance to us as it confirms the high quality of our forest management practices," commented Kayt Watts, CEO of AFS Limited, the organization that manages the Australian standard.

"It is the contributions and engagement by stakeholders and the work of AFS Limited staff that made this re-endorsement possible. We will continue to proactively seek dialogue with and involvement from all interested parties to ensure that the standard meets the expectations of all Australians and positively contributes to sustainable development globally."

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Kayt Watts, CEO, Australian Forest Certification Scheme